Benchemsi also publishes TelQuel, the country's most-read French-language newsweekly. Nichane was launched in 2006 as an Arabic version of TelQuel,
which has generated international attention since its 2001 launch for
its liberal secular ideology and its editorial mix of sex, religion, and
political criticism. TelQuel and Nichane earned their
wide readerships by provoking conversation in a society with many taboos
and by pushing boundaries in a region not known for free speech. The
magazines, which flaunt bold covers that could be called lewd even by
American standards, confront controversial subject head-on, and spare
criticism of no one, will look immediately familiar to anyone who has
ever read a New York City tabloid.
Nichane provoked the
monarchy's ire with such cover stories as "Sex and Homosexuality in
Islamic Culture," "Inside Moroccan Secret Services," and "How Moroccans
Joke About Islam, Sex, and the Monarchy." Benchemsi himself was briefly
imprisoned in 2007 after publishing an editorial questioning King
Mohammed VI's leadership. In December 2009, Moroccan police destroyed
100,000 copies of Nichane in retaliation for printing the first-ever approval poll of King Mohammed VI. Run jointly with Le Monde
and professional polling firms, the survey reported 91 percent
approval, which Benchemsi swears is legitimate. However, despite even
the high approval, state officials announced that the poll was an insult
and a crime because the king is above polling.
TelQuel,
though also targeted by the advertising boycott, will continue to
publish. Because many French-language advertisers are based outside of
Morocco, the boycott has had a limited effect on TelQuel, which Benchemsi says remains profitable. I asked him whether Nichane's
closing will cause him to reconsider the editorial policies that
contributed to the newsweekly's demise. "When you see your colleagues
harassed, when you're harassed yourself, when you have to close a
newspaper, I have to tell you its painful," he answered. "Before writing
anything you have to think about it twice. We are more careful now than
we were four years ago." But, he added, "Of course we're still
critical, we're still independent."
When asked why the government
did not simply shut his doors, Benchemsi replied, "You know, Morocco is
not North Korea. They can't just do whatever they want. They have to
preserve some kind of facade. Appearances of a free press are
preserved." Morocco is widely perceived in the West as one of the Arab
world's freest for journalism and speech, and Benchemsi readily concedes
there is truth to this. The country has attracted significant foreign
investment on this image, including the World Economic Forum (known for
its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland), which will convene in Morocco later this month.